|
|
VOLUME VIII, Number 2
July- December 2018 
Gerald O’Collins
Gerald O’Collins wrote A Christology of Religions to provide a corrective to modern Christocentric theologies of religion, which, he says, “do not generally operate on the basis of the full Christological picture” (p. vii). By that he means that they largely ignore such important themes as the theology of the cross, the universal scope of Christ’s high-priestly ministry, the efficacy of his loving prayer for “the others,” and the mediation of his revelation (and not merely his salvation) to all human beings. O’Collins devotes the major part of his book to expand on these central themes and to demonstrate their relevance for a theology of religions. Since, as he insists, a Christology of religions must also be a pneumatology of religions, the penultimate chapter offers criteria for discerning the presence of the Word and the Spirit. The final chapter specifically addresses relations with Muslims and Jews, focusing on these two religious traditions since they receive the most attention in Nostra ætate.
O’Collins’ treatment of each of the four above-mentioned Christological themes is marked by careful attention to sources, well-developed arguments, and an ability to make explicit the revolutionary significance of words and passages that can often be passed over as of little or no theological significance. For example, in the chapter entitled “Incarnation as Caring for ‘the Others’ and Sharing the Sufferings of All,” he argues that Jesus’ frequent use of “whoever” in his teaching about the blessedness of the divine kingdom and its claim indicates that this realm knows no frontiers; the kingdom of God is for everyone (“whoever”), even those who had never heard of Jesus’ name (pp. 9-11).
Like the kingdom of God, the high priesthood of Christ is also universal in its scope. The incarnation “allowed the Son of God to become a high priest for everyone” (p. 37, emphasis added) and not only for the descendants of Abraham.However, the priesthood of Jesus Christ, exercised for the good of all human beings, has not received the attention it merits in the work of theologians who specialize in the theology of religions, including such eminent Catholic scholars as Karl Rahner and Jacques Dupuis. O’Collins therefore believes it is necessary to go beyond what Dupuis wrote on this subject, but he has also come to the defense of Dupuis, supporting him in his contention that he was not treated fairly by the Congregation for the Teaching of the Faith. In addition to articles in theological journals, he devoted a chapter of his book On the Left Bank of the Tiber to “The Dupuis Case” and published his illuminating conversations with Dupuis in Do Not Stifle the Spirit, which was recently reviewed in Dilatato Corde.
In his chapter on “The Universal Presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit,” O’Collins notes that the oft-quoted assertion of Nostra ætate—“the Catholic Church rejects nothing of those things which are true and holy in these [other] religions” (p. 63)—raises a fundamental question: From where or from whom do these holy and true elements come? He answers by arguing that since what is true among them reflects the “Truth” who is the Word of God, then “what is holy among them also comes from the Word who is the life of humankind (John 1:4).”
O’Collins further proposes that these words of Nostra ætate strongly suggest that Christ functions as both universal revealer and universal savior. In response to the objection that this interpretation appears to many “others” as an appalling expression of arrogance, he makes three points:
Although O’Collins does not make use of the categories customarily used to differentiate Christian theologies of religions (exclusivist, inclusivist, and pluralist), A Christology of Religions, while certainly not exclusivist, would appear to be more inclusivist than pluralist. If this is true, I would like to have read what he would have to say about a Christian pluralist position, such as the one so lucidly developed and proposed by Perry Schmidt-Leukel in two major works, both of which were also recently reviewed in Dilatato Corde: Religious Pluralism and Interreligious Theology: The Gilford Lectures and God Beyond Boundaries: A Christian and Pluralist Theology of Religions. Although O’Collins includes both these books in his bibliography—God beyond Boundaries in the original German—neither of them is referred to in the book itself.
Concluding his chapter on “Discerning the Presence of Christ and the Spirit,” O’Collins recalls Karl Rahner’s warning that even the most solemn and cherished formulations of Christian belief are “not an end but a beginning, not goals but means, truths which open their way to the ever greater Truth” (p. 139).[1] If we can admit the gap between experience and expression in the case of Christianity, O’Collins argues, we should be able to regard other religions in a similar fashion and look for “seeds of the Word” not only in their written teachings but in, as Nostra ætate puts it, their acting “acting and living.”
Looking for seeds of the word in the actions and lives of those who follow a spiritual tradition other than Christianity is another way of speaking of interreligious dialogue at the level of religious experience and practice—the kind of dialogue Monastic Interreligious Dialogue strives to engage in and promote. As the Benedictine monk Pierre de Béthune, the first Secretary General of DIM·MID, puts it in the documentary film “Strangers No More,”
If you are deeply rooted in your tradition, as can be expected of a monk who has been formed over many years, you don't have to be afraid of immersing yourself in another religion. It’s not a question of compromise, saying, “I’ll accept this, but not that.” No. I accept everything! But I accept it with all that is mine. It's a meeting from faith to faith. Or more exactly, from fidelity to fidelity.[2]
[1] The reference is to K. Rahner, “Current Problems in Christology,” Theological Investigations (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1961) 1:149. [2] The citation is the translation that appears as subtitles. Speaking in French, Father de Béthune said, “Si on est profondément ancré dans sa tradition comme on peut l’espérer d’un moine qui a été formé pendant de nombreuses années, à ce moment, il ne faut pas avoir peur de s’immerger, de se plonger dans une autre religion. Ce n’est pas une question de compromis, non plus—en disant, « Je prends ça, mais je ne prends pas ça. » Non. Je prends tout ! Mais je le prends depuis mon tout ! C’est une rencontre de la foi à la foi. Peut-être même plus précisément, de la fidélité à la fidélité. |
 |